a. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a packaging of products and more particularly to a packaging formed of a thin pleated sheet and a semi-rigid sheet adapted for holding loose articles. This invention is an improvement over the pleated wrappers disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,795,648; 5,125,564 and 5,131,586.
b. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,131,586 describes a wrapper composed of a thin and flexible pleated sheet and a non-pleated sheet. The non-pleated sheet could be made of the same material as the pleated sheet or a different material having different flexibility and rigidity. The non-pleated sheet is placed about a convex object to be wrapped and then the pleated sheet is deployed to cover substantially or partially both the convex object and the non-pleated sheet. The pleated wrapper can be partially opened to uncover the convex object as required. This wrapper is useful for packaging a single convex object or several objects having matching contours so that they can be grouped or stacked in a relatively compact ensemble. However, this type of packaging is not well suited for packaging loose objects, particularly food stuff such as french fries, fish sticks and so on since these objects cannot be stacked into a mass sufficiently compact to permit the pleated sheet to be employed efficiently around them. It is also impractical to fold the wrapping into a container prior to packaging like a paper bag since the wrapper is formed and deployed around the object simultaneously.
Fast food restaurants and other similar retail food distributors sell french fries and other loose food stuff in bags or cone-shaped containers which are unstable so that they cannot be placed easily on a table, and moreover do not protect their contents from dirt or heat. This traditional type of packaging moreover is very impractical for selling food to customers in cars, i.e. through drive-through windows.